THE POISONED SUGAR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1114, 31 December 1869, Page 3

THE POISONED SUGAR.

. To the editor of the !' lndependent," . SiEj-^-Your correspondent X V Z is certainly justified, in expecting from me some history of the late cases of ar&enical poisoning, and although a large number of the cases were treated by Dr. Kemp, and. I possess at present no record of them, yet I consider that a description of the condition observed in two typical cases will go far to establish the identity of the pdispn, and satisfy ypur cprrespondent. A laboring man and his wife and children had eaten meat that appeared rather high that evening, they were all suddenly seized with vomiting, pain in the stomach, and purging.. This misery was attributed to the meat ij the .sufferers, and I prescribed suph|irous acid as a disinfectant. They appearal to improve, but a regular recurrence of the vomiting and pain took place for two days ; strange languor and weariness crept over the energetic woman of the house, aud I was fairly puzzled/ At length I heard her snuffle ; saw the conjunctives were infected, and that the skin looked glossy ; and I thought those were the. very symptoms resulting from an overdose of arsenic, and I warned her to change the whole of her diet, and use largely mucilagenous drinks for the whole of the family. The symptoms of poisoning rapidly disappeared, and further experience enabled me to trace them to the use of the sugar in tea and the children's food. A powerful healthy young man bought two pounds of sugar in the evening, and he ate several ounces ot it at supper. During the night he was seized with violent pain, vomiting and purging, which lasted till morning. In the morning he came tp my consulting room, with the sugar in his hand, and told me his story. From his appearance I concluded the peccant matter was eliminated. I found, on enquiry, that my former patient used exactly the same sugar, and I got an original sample from the grocer, in which Mr. Skey discovered arsenic, so that I considered the mystery cleared up ; warned the grocer to stop the sale of the sugar and collect all the outstanding samples (which was rapidly and, I think, effectually done) though I must say I met with rather a suspicious case of vomiting on Tuesday last, its supervention being both sudden and alarming, and its subsidence rapid. The ejecta were all thrown. away before my arrival, so that there was no opportunity of testing them. — I am, &c, Moegan S. Gjia.ce. P.S. — Dr. Kemp, without my knowledge, had been making observations parallel to mine, and I have no doubt, as they were more extensive, they will be found more instructive and interesting.